After several months of being offline, Freedom From The Press has returned.

Has anything really changed since we left? I noticed something the other day that indicated the fact that at least one television network has become desparate. Yes, CBS News is running ads wanting mass amounts of people to return, you know, back into their fold and particular brand of national and international propaganda. As I’ve stated in the past, Thank God for our youth and their willingness to disconnect from the old corporate guard.

My question to you: If there’s any hope for free and fair democratic elections in American, what needs to change? And, that said, what are you willing to do to change it?

“Spines wanted” signs are all over the Capitol.Â “If found, please contact 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative.”

Republican Leadership is selling out their “fiscal conservative principles” like they were air conditioners during a heat wave.

The “Tea Party Tidal Wave” that rolled over Congress last year is now being tested against the immense pressure from the Washington establishment.

Rather than fighting to hold the line on dramatically reducing government spending, in a closed-door meeting today, members lashed out at a Republican Study Committee staffer, Paul Teller, for doing exactly that!

One member after another lambasted this poor staffer, including some chanting, “Fire him! Fire him!”

His crime?

He sent emails to outside organizations about which way some of the “undecided” Republican members were leaning on voting on John Boehner’s debt ceiling deal.

The Atlantic’s Joshua Green wrote, “If Republican House members had any convictions at all, Teller would get a medal and a promotion.”

This proposal contains only modest differences from the one prepared by Senator Harry Reid.

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office scored the Boehner proposal and found the majority of “cuts” over the next ten years were back-loaded, meaning they aren’t likely to ever occur, whereas the debt ceiling is raised by $1 trillion immediately.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect was the CBO found that Speaker Boehner’s proposal only cut $1 BILLION in FY 2012!

That’s right, a mere $1 billion dollars…

The vote was originally scheduled today, but after the poor CBO score, the vote was pushed back so Boehner could tweak his proposal (not to mention it was likely they didn’t have the votes today for passage).

This is beginning to look more and more like the botched Continuing Resolution negotiations to “avert a government shutdown” earlier in the year that resulted in a miniscule $350 million in “cuts.”

Yet the House Republican Leadership is telling its members to “get in line” behind this plan?

This is it folks.

The lines have been drawn.Â The House Republican Leadership is willingly capitulating to the statists in Washington who are demanding even more of the same borrow-tax-and-spend habits that drove our economy into the fiscal morass we still find ourselves in the middle of.

This week marks the release of freshman Utah Senator Mike Leeâ€™s book,The Freedom Agenda.
Senator Lee has been a key ally in Campaign for Libertyâ€™s battle to Audit the Fed, and he has also joined with us on many other vital issues, including the need to pass a strict Balanced Budget Amendment to help rein in an out-of-control federal government.

Together, Senator Lee and Senator Rand Paul have shaken up the Washington establishment with their support of limited, constitutional government.

According to Freedom Watch host Judge Andrew Napolitano, “In The Freedom Agenda, Senator Mike Lee clearly explains how presidents and Congresses have exceeded the confines of the Constitution and how the courts have let them get away with it.Â His proposals to limit the federal governmentâ€™s ability to take and spend our money will frustrate the big government types in both parties and warm the hearts of freedom lovers everywhere.”

P.S. The national debate over spending and debt is more intense than ever before.Â The Freedom Agenda will provide you with the information you need to recruit more activists to support a legitimate Balanced Budget Amendment and help stop Washington’s runaway spending.Â Buy it today at Amazon.com.

The following unedited report was submitted via email by one of our valued readers…

Written by: Francisco Olguin

Message:
Chicago police and FBI are covering for this 10yr convict nasty male prostitute on welfare Leonard Cox . I made over $70K a year for 9 years. They are trying to change the story to protect Cox and his white MOB friends. Cox will be found will see what happens to their frameup for their friends. These racist cops and FBI used Cointelpro tactics to discredit my name even though I dont have a criminal record and never been to jail.

Leonard Cox rented my basmentÂ at 5158 s. kildare in chicago and all this trouble started. LEONARD COX (10 yr. convict prostitute on welfare) he is linked to all these crimes 2 burglaries (one was his) theft, credit card fraud and arson’s (garage fire) all committed within 100ft from my house at 5158 S. kildare in Chicago where I used to live (police have the police reports). Leonard Cox made false police reports with his witness Maria and cops know this for over 4 years. I have over 6 witnesses, 20 min. AUDIO TAPES , police reports (supeoned) and documents to prove he made fake burglary reports with his witness and all those crimes are linked to him.Â All these stupid crimes are linked to this drug addict male prostitute on welfare. Racist corrupt cops know all this is true.

Here’s LEONARD COX BACKGROUND CHECK, I got this from a private investigator I hired Security professional in Chicago, I paid $750 to him to find out what was going on in my peaceful neighborhood after this Leonard Cox moved in where I lived for 9 years with no trouble before that.

These racist corrupt cops and FBI made their whole frame up with their police misconduct and their bragging about all their crimes on the internet, emails and the street

Chicago police and FBI are covering for Leonard Cox and his white MOB friends, its already proven. But the whole state of Illinois is controlled by the chicago police cant find a lawyer in over 2 years to sue them and clear my name.

These braindead cops and FBI know their whole case is fake because everything is linked to Leonard Cox. They know their white MOB friends committed allÂ the crimes for over 4 years after they heard my 20 minute audio tapes of Leonerd Cox confessing about his fake witness.

Their is no help in Chicago, cops control everybody, Media, lawyers, civil rights groups, everybody that works for the city and state. I found out over 2 years later

Yesterday, I stood in the town hall in Exeter, New Hampshire, with a packed house of fellow Liberty Lovers and announced that I am a candidate for President of the United States.

And, let me tell you, the response has been tremendous!

We have been overwhelmed with media attention and interview requests. Just yesterday, I did nine national television interviews, as well as many New Hampshireâ€“based appearances, and I even had to turn down many more. And, on Sunday, I will be the lead guest on Fox News Sunday.

But, more importantly, I have seen an outpouring of support from friends in Iowa, New Hampshire, and all across the country. Thousands of calls and emails have poured in offering support and encouragement.

Our REVOLUTION is now in a new phase. As the numbers build and the polling surges, we stand poised to win major political battles and take our Liberty back.

You and I know that America is the greatest nation in human history. Belief in Liberty, limited government, and sound money made us the freest and most prosperous people in the world.

But we are in danger.Â Two trillion dollar deficits, soaring inflation, endless foreign wars, and an ever-growing federal government threaten the very fabric of our nation.

All the work we have done together for the past decades has brought us to this place. We are challenging the status quo, and, if we come together now in these crucial times, we can win.

This REVOLUTION will be hard work. It will require long hours from all of us. And, as we threaten the power elites, we will be attacked. We will face smears, defaming, and dirty tricks.

But, I know that our mission is crucial. Please work with me and help give each other strength as we fight for Liberty.

So, as we launch this new campaign, I pledge the following to you:
1. I will work as hard as I can and do everything in my ability to make this campaign a success.

2. We will build the strongest team we possibly can and execute the best, most professional effort in our power.

3. I will never compromise and never, ever back down.

Over the next few weeks, my team will continue to build the top notch campaign organization our REVOLUTION requires.Â I will be working to put in place the staff, resources, equipment, and technology necessary to help ensure this campaign is a success.

Please plug in with them over the next few weeks and find out what you can do. And please, always be patient as we deploy our plan. There will be an important job for everyone willing to contribute.

As we launch this campaign, I continue to draw my strength from you. Whenever I get tired or feel discouraged by the scope of our problems, I lean on all the passion across the country and am reinvigorated. I thank you for that, from the bottom of my heart.

Like Bell, California, the city of Denver, Colorado (to quote Mr. Ralph Nader) “has a local government which has proven to be citizen-proof, media proof, city-council proof and even leak-proof from inside its self-enriching top officialdomâ€.Â But Denverâ€™s “Officialdom” does it in a much more covert, fraudulent and abusive manner than Bell.

Get this disturbing fact; the millionaire former mayor (now Governor) of Denver (John Hickenlooper) has personally appointed all the members of the Water Board Commission; these five people, (primarily lawyers and developers) illegally control the largest public water system in Colorado. They in turn approve in lockstep, all the contracts, bonds and rate increases they are given, which many are overpriced or unneeded. If a citizen protests, they are intimidated, belittled or ignored. Isnâ€™t it illegal for a mayor and five friends to control a public water utility?Â Not it Denver!

This organized theft of taxpayer funds is very entrenched, well planned, and covert and has been taking millions of dollars for years from the Denver metro citizens. This covert organization has disturbing political protection. The police, the district attorney office and the state attorney general wonâ€™t investigate it when it was reported to them by letter and/or in person. When members of the city council of this large city were informed of the fraud by letter and in person, they claimed no responsibility to look into the manner and then lied about their responsibilities to the citizens. As did the over paid city auditor (Dennis Gallagher) and his key staff. When the local media was informed by direct meetings or phone calls, they ignored the serious problems and lied also. This includes reporters at the bankrupted Denver Post and major TV networks. See a pattern like Bell?

So similar to the city of Bell, when these few corrupt City of Denver officials control the money, the media, the city council and the law enforcement, what is there to stop this large-scale fraud? Nothing, so it has gone on for years, at the expense and abuse of the U.S. taxpayer, Denver metro citizen and the abused city workers. If you report this huge fraud, safety violations or other abuses, you are ignored, threatened, fired and stifled by a gang of corrupt attorneys from either the city and/ or the water utility.

You would expect expressions of shock and dismay from the elected people, the so-called, senators and congressional representatives of Colorado (Michael Bennett, Mark Udall, Diane DeGette and Ed Perlmutter). All four have been informed of the corruption by letter or in person by concerned Denver metro citizens, but ignored the problem, refused to address it and/or lied in violation of their oaths of office. The former governor (Bill Ritter) office was informed as well and claimed no jurisdiction to look into the crimes. This is a lie as well.Â A reasonable person would be concerned what these high paid elected officials are getting to ignore this and keep quiet.

The Water Board Commission (the five friends of the mayor) just recently, unanimously approved a water rate increase, even though numerous metro Denver citizens complained about problems of fraud, safety violations, employee abuse and numerous other problems. The rate increase was unneeded and a few managers at the water utility fabricated the justification.Â These millions of dollars in overcharges will be used to pay for exorbitant contracts to benefactors of the fraud, like theÂ $7,360,148 paid to the URS Corporation to do a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) report on an unneeded dam project. With about $2.22 million in Phase V to; â€œprovide responses to comments on the DEIS, revise the DEIS and then prepare the Final EISâ€. This is an outrage.

At least a dozen employees in the Denver City Hall know of this corruption and chose not to talk or leak the news over the years. The city newspapers, TV and radio stations as mentioned, do nothing to dig it out. The city council knows, but is compromised by its involvement in the corruption; each gets about $337,000 each year for salary, expenses and staff, other large Colorado cities paid only $6,250/ year! None of the town gadflies or skeptics bothered to reveal these problems. A gutsy, smart construction inspector with 20 years experience was fired for reporting construction project fraud in Sept. 2008; an ethical project auditor was fired in Feb. 2009 for not going along with the fraud.Â Another brave city employee, who reported the fraud abuses within his department, was sent home on “house arrest” and then laid off in Nov. 2009. See a pattern of cover-up and abuse? You would think, all that is needed to bring this to light was one or two people blowing the whistle. Bu!
t in Denver, you report fraud by city officials and no one hears it, because the media is corrupted and controlled. So your reward is media silence or biased reporting, illegal retaliation, abuse and termination. Here in mile high Denver, the millionaire former mayor and his staff covertly promote intimation and fear to keep your job and cover-up their corruption; what a place to work and live! Report corruption and get beat-up and down for it by the local media, elected officials and a gang of attorneys who stifle voices and cover-up the fraud and other abuses.

Please note, this fraud and other information is not opinion. Its arithmetic-crisp numbers and facts that can easily be shown to be well planned, covert abuse by anyone willing to listen and learn in a few minutes. The safety violations, employee abuses and other problems can easily be shown to be occurring as well by numerous concerned citizens.

To arouse the citizens in Denver they need an ethical source to investigate this and expose this ongoing corruption. Obviously, no agency locally will do any thing to expose this abuse, in this clearly organized crime controlled town. What is at stake is the continued organized theft of millions of dollars each year from the U.S. taxpayer, Denver metro citizens, thousands of employees are exposed to an unsafe and abusive work environment, water quality is compromised and the poorest and elderly in Denver get ripped off the most. They certainly cannot afford this abuse! More details can be provided by numerous concerned citizens, who just want high quality water and the right to job and a clean, healthy environment without fear of loss of work, health, being intimidation or abuse by corrupt, greedy attorneys, officials or managers involved in organized theft.

The saving grace in Bell is that, once they found out, folks rushed in protest to the crowded city council meeting and the perpetrators will now be held accountable. But how can people in any city be outraged if it isnâ€™t investigated and reported to them from a worthy source?Â If you care about your water system, you need to find out; who actually controls the water in your city? Is it private or public? Does the mayor appoint all the people who control the water system? Are these people there because they have outside agendas? Where does the revenue-generated money go? What are the actual expenses? Is it safe to drink? Why are bonds being issued? If employees reports problems, are they threatened or fired? Is your local media corrupted?Â If you have not asked these questions, then you may already have the water corruption existing in Denver; a public water system covertly privatized to illegally benefit the millionaire former mayor and his friends with help from the media!
, law enforcement and any others.Â People have a right to clean water and at the lowest cost possible anywhere in the world, including Denver. In addition we as U.S. citizens have the right to expect Federal agencies to investigate this huge corruption problem aggressively and in the best interest of the Public they are paid by. No evidenceÂ currently shows anything has been done to protect the citizens by any Federal agency.

Dick Adams wrote an email to the Spokane, WA, City Council and Mayor Mary Verner last week that, when you put two and two together, has the effect of indicting the mayor for anarchy. Actually, the evidence suggests to me that the mayor effectively confessed to anarchy three years ago with a surprisingly candid email she wrote to a former sheriff. Mr. Adamsâ€™s email shows what Mayor Vernerâ€™s anarchy is costing her citizens.

Mr. Adams objectedÂ to consideration that Spokane chief financial officer Gavin Cooley is giving to â€œcharging our city credit cardâ€ by selling $45 million of councilmanic bonds. Mr. Adams told me that he considers this an illegal use of public debt because its purpose is to solve a financial crisis caused by an earlier illegal use of public debt. Mr. Cooley is an agent of both frauds, charges Mr. Adams, which stem from the River Park Square financial scandal.

Dick Adams is hardly alone in decrying such abuse of public finance as part of a much larger pattern of government behavior in America today. A retired executive of a U.S. Steel subsidiary, Mr. Adams is well known for his financial expertise. Over the years he has been one of the closest and most knowledgeable observers of municipal finance in Spokane. Not just Teapartiers agree with him that Americaâ€™s fiscal lawlessness has become nothing less than a government Ponzi scheme now threateningÂ the country with an historic economic catastrophe.

In this heist, never-ending layers of debt are added to sub-layers. (Mr. Adams is horrified that American citizens now owe nearly a trillion dollars to China.) Much of this debt, as in the case of Wall Streetâ€™s 2008 meltdown and its globally transmitted fiscal disease of derivatives, is directly traceable to criminal activity. The criminal enterprise involves government officials helping private interests steal money from the public. The criminals keep getting away with their crime because of the gangsterization of government. Government criminals, naturally, will not prosecute themselves for their crimes.

At the heart of the 2008 meltdown is a structural accounting fraud that U.S. government leaders embedded in the global economy with their refusal to regulate derivatives and impose generally accepted accounting principles on them. That refusal is why uber investor Warren Buffett called derivatives â€œweapons of financial mass destruction.â€ Responsible government regulation of derivatives would have mandated full disclosure of their true asset value, and that might have averted the historic economic emergency now threatening the nation. For a quick review of U.S. government culpability in this emergency, watch the PBS Frontline report called â€œThe Warning,â€ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/.

In that report, youâ€™ll hear this exchange between a Congressional hearing panelist and former Chairwoman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Brooksley Born:

Q: What are you trying to protect?

Born: Weâ€™re trying to protect the money of the American public.

The Clinton Administration chose not to accept that mission. Neither did the Bush Administration. Nor has Barack Obamaâ€™s Administration. When President Obama, the eloquent purveyor of hope, and the U.S. Congress got around to passing last yearâ€™s â€œfinancial reformâ€ legislation, they accepted assistance from 54 financial industry lobbying firms that spent $300 million. That trifling investment bought Wall Street the ability to keep gambling with the money ofÂ the American peopleâ€”and the fate of the global economy. (See John Cassidyâ€™s â€œAnnals of Economics: The Volker Rule,â€ in the 7/26/10 issue of The New Yorker.)

Public/Private Crime

From accounts like these, government officials and various private interests emerge as little more than glib public/private mobsters. Untouchable by virtue of the legal immunity they gain from their control of government, theyâ€™re able to enjoy their champagne while blowing raspberries at the rest of the world. In this scenario, the citizens of the world become to the public/private mobsters what the Jews of Europe were to the Nazisâ€”compliant souls to be herded into ghettos for scheduled liquidation. The liquidation in this case, of course, is not of actual bodies based on criminal insanity of the political kind. Instead, it is liquidation of personal wealthâ€”and civilizationâ€™s hopeâ€”resulting from criminal insanity of the economic kind. Thus have the nations of the world become ghettos for the use of organized financial crime.

Mr. Adamsâ€™s email connects to this bigger picture, because the settled evidence clearly shows that Spokaneâ€™s River Park Square scandal was the work of public/private mobsters. River Park Square is hometown civic theater to Wall Streetâ€™s Broadway extravaganza.

Supporters of RPS euphemistically called it a public/private partnership. Details of the project that surfaced in federal municipal securities fraud litigation, an IRS investigation, and extensive national prize-winning investigative reporting by my colleagues and me (see www.camasmagazine.com) show that RPS was just carefully packaged public/private crime.

Ugly facts clearly show that River Park Square developer Betsy Cowles set out to commit crime, and that her newspaper publisher brother, Stacey Cowles, did, too. Mr. Cowlesâ€™s crime was to provide the use of the familyâ€™s newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, to package his little sisterâ€™s real estate crime for public consumption.

This whole sordid history is tediously documented elsewhere on this blog and various links cited by it. Consider the following:

For evidence that Betsy Cowles knowingly set out to break the law, see the story â€œMissing Man,â€ http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=177.Â Open Ms. Cowlesâ€™s infamous 3/9/95 â€œdivide and conquerâ€ memo. That memo proves that Ms. Cowles, a lawyer, intended to violate federal securities law by hiding from investors her plan to launder a $23 million federal loan into the Nordstrom Co. by giving Nordstrom a free new store in Spokane. To accomplish this crime, she intended to â€œdivide and conquerâ€ Spokaneâ€™s city government, a time-honored tactic of despots. See â€œInside Job,â€ http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=101, for proof that the Cowleses set out to secretly access public funds in a way that violated federal guidelines, and that Spokane public officials helped them do it. As companion reading, see the story â€œFraudville, USA,â€ http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=179. Read the RPS bondholdersâ€™ 91-point Omnibus Statement of Facts. It documents the securities fraud engineered by Ms. Cowles with active complicity of a host of Spokane officials. The city admitted to its role in this crime by purchasing the bondholdersâ€™ complaint and promising to recover the $26 million it paid Ms. Cowles for the RPS garage. But then the city pulled yet another bait and switch on its citizens. It let Ms. Cowles keep her stolen money, and, with the help of the IRS, saddled Spokaneâ€™s citizens with the cost of the Cowles robbery. See â€œA New RPS Fraud?â€, http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=199.

For evidence that Spokesman-Review publisher Stacey Cowles used the familyâ€™s paper to cover up the RPS crime, begin with â€œAll in the Family,â€ http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=65. See also, â€œBreaking the News,â€ http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=172. There youâ€™ll find evidence that Mr. Cowles turned his paper into a propaganda machine for his familyâ€™s highly organized criminal enterprise of illegally leveraging a minimum of $100 million in public funds to refurbish the Cowles familyâ€™s downtown shopping mallâ€”River Park Square. Youâ€™ll also see evidence that when Mr. Cowles allowed his editor, Chris Peck, to twice attack former Mayor John Talbott as a â€œcivic terroristâ€ for trying to expose the $23 million federal loan fraud, both Mr. Cowles and Mr. Peck were in possession of evidence showing that they knew they were falsely accusing him. That is, they were falsely accusing a mayor who was trying to expose the truth and serve those who elected him. This is the blackest of journalism sins. Itâ€™s known as â€œactual malice libel.â€ That refers to the intentional publication of a lie. Mr. Cowlesâ€™s purpose in publishing these lies was obviously to help the Cowles family with its massive public robbery. Mr. Peckâ€™s purpose was apparently to keep his job as a handsomely paid Cowles bagman. To do that, he was willing to also become a hit man, assassinating in front of the community the character of mayor who deserved praise for his exemplary courage. Because the evidence shows that RPS represents continuing organized crime, and because there is no statute of limitations for such crime, I happen to believe that Mayor Talbott could at any time bring a civil RICO actual malice libel case against both Mr. Cowles and Mr. Peck. RICO provides for the recovery of treble damages, because its purpose is to destroy organized crime. The former mayor was the leader duly elected by the people of Spokane to protect them from the Cowles familyâ€™s $100 million RPS fraud. The evidence of fraud is settled. The evidence of actual malice libel is irrefutable. The evidence that Betsy and Stacey Cowles mounted a secret political campaign to defeat Talbott is also irrefutable. (See, â€œHow a publishing heiress went after an uncooperative mayor: http://www.camasmagazine.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?aid=181 .)Â The actual losses to the municipality of Spokane resulting from the Cowles familyâ€™s criminal character assassination of Mayor Talbott and clandestine political attack on him would require forensic accounting. But that would be pretty easy.

So far, government watchdogs, bought and paid for by the private interests that control their bosses, carefully trained by their bosses not to bark when such crimes are committed, have obediently not barked. The watchdogsâ€™ complicity just adds to a history that, as Mr. Adamsâ€™s email shows, can only get uglier so long as the perpetrators are not brought to justice.

The RPS crime is the reason that the specific number Mr. Adams is questioningâ€”$45Â millionâ€”raises the specter of the mayorâ€™s anarchy.

The new layer of debt Mr. Cooley wants to lay on the public matches almost precisely the $44.8 million layer of debt that he and other public officials charged their citizens to pay off the RPS fraud that they had perpetrated on them.

â€œTo me, what Cooley is trying to do has the appearance of refinancing the RPS fraud,â€ says Mr. Adams. â€œThis should be discussed at least until 2030, which is when the RPS bond fraud will finally be paid off.â€

Mary Verner, as she is well aware, plays a central role in this â€œscheme.â€ Scheme is what the IRS called it. In this scheme, then-Councilwoman Verner helped hold open the bag into which she and her fellow public servants illegally shoveled the swag of tens of millions of public dollars. And then they submissively handed the bag over to Betsy Cowles.

â€œA New RPS Fraud?â€ shows how upset Councilwoman Verner, who is also a lawyer, claimed to be about her role in this theft. But she did nothing about it. She joined the great pack of barkless watchdogs.

Itâ€™s the email Councilwoman Verner wrote to former Sheriff Tony Bamonte, when she was running for mayor, in which she convicts herself of anarchy. Anarchy, of course, is the dog-eat-dog chaos that results from an absence of government.

Sheriff Bamonte has been a prominent enough Democrat for decades that every electoral season candidates, Democrat and Republican alike, make a pilgrimage to his home, seeking his endorsement. Mary Verner did that when she ran for mayor in 2007.

Sheriff Bamonte said he would support her conditioned on her promise to prosecute the RPS crime, particularly the death of Jo Ellen Savage in the RPS garage. Bamonte had filed criminal complaints charging that Savageâ€™s death was first-degree manslaughter resulting from Cowles neglect. (See â€œDeathtrap,â€ http://www.girlfromhotsprings.com/ and â€œAmericaâ€™s Most Dangerous Cop,â€ and â€œAmerican Serbia,â€ below.) Verner made that promise, according to Bamonte and others present at a meeting in the former sheriffâ€™s home.

Afterward, Bamonte got worried, because Verner said nothing about RPS during her campaign. He called her on it and she responded with an email that deserves a prominent place in the RPS Document Hall of Shame. â€œI recognize the huge issues of morality, courage, and strength of character involved in taking on the RPS issue,â€ she wrote in her Nov. 2, 2007 email. â€œI also know that if I make RPS a cornerstone of my campaign platform, the â€˜powers that beâ€™ will ensure that I do not get elected â€¦ period.â€ [See "Powers that Be" link in "American Serbia," below.]Â Â

Iâ€™ve never been able to understand what possessed Verner to make such an admission to the former sheriff credited with solving the oldest open murder case in U.S. history. Did she really think that Tony Bamonte didnâ€™t know the loneliness of taking on â€œpowers that be?â€ But there you have it in the mayorâ€™s own wordsâ€”frank acknowledgment of the existence of public corruption in Spokane more powerful than the cityâ€™s government. Frank acknowledgment, too, that she lacked the â€œmorality, courage, and strength of characterâ€ to confront it, even as she campaigned for a job that required her to do so. Itâ€™s hard to think of a better example of the most dangerous kind of anarchy there isâ€”criminal government. Violent terrorists and Molotov cocktail-hurling street protesters are feeble by comparison.

Mayor Verner has declined to talk with me about her â€œpowers that beâ€ email.Â She also declines to discuss an order she purportedly received from Betsy Cowles shortly after her election.

Sheriff Bamonte says that Shannon Sullivan, a close friend of Mayor Vernerâ€™s, contacted him last year with a disturbing account. Ms. Sullivan, the woman who led the successful drive to recall former Mayor Jim West over a sex abuse scandal, told Bamonte that she was in Vernerâ€™s office when Cowles called her and ordered her to take a trip with her. Bamonte told me at the time that Sullivan said the trip involved a flight on Cowlesâ€™s private jet.

I found Sullivanâ€™s allegation interesting, because of the IRS findings that the Cowles family controls Spokaneâ€™s government. (See â€œThe Casino Was Rigged,â€ linked above.)

When I asked Ms. Sullivan about the purported Verner/Cowles plane ride, she wrote back denying she had told Bamonte about it. Suzanne Bamonte, the former sheriffâ€™s wife, says she was present when Ms. Sullivan related this account. I provided Ms. Sullivan a memo written by Mrs. Bamonte summarizing her recollection of Sullivanâ€™s story. I requested Ms. Sullivanâ€™s comment on Mrs. Bamonteâ€™s memo. Ms. Sullivan did not respond. So far, Mayor Verner and Ms. Cowles have also not responded to my requests for comment on the alleged plane ride. If they do, I will post their comments here. Meanwhile, I invite Mayor Verner, Ms. Sullivan, and Ms. Cowles to post their comments about this matter here.

If you are concerned about injustice, the economic crisis,Â declining property values or government corruption, you might want to attend this rallyÂ tomorrow afternoonÂ in Ft. Lauderdale.Â Â The details are below, but please note that the starting time is 4:00 PM, not 4:30.

If you want to know why banksters can get away with committing fraud to steal the homes and life savings of millions of Americans and steal from every American by raiding the treasury, see Why Does the Government Ignore Our Wishes? and donâ€™t miss my short speech.

If you take a look, youâ€™ll learn why banksters, their attorneys, regulators, and judges can get away with violating our rights, abusing their power, stealing homes, raiding the treasury and committing horrible crimes and why prosecutors refuse to do anything to hold the banksters and their minions accountable for their crimes. My article on torture includes a link to the U.S. Supreme Court case which explains how one of our stolen rights makes the difference between justice and injustice, between freedom and slavery.

After their election day â€œshellacking,â€ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow statists are seeking to rip apart Senate rules so they can ram through more Big Government power grabs.

And, most worrisome, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans may be negotiating to give Reid some or all of what he wants.

This is an emergency, and I am asking for your help.

It’s true that Senate rules are complicated and seem sometimes silly.

But behind them is a critical intention straight from the Founding Fathers – to make the Senate a bulwark against tyranny by a narrow majority and a defense against a rush of “popular” opinion generated by some sudden event.

With pressure from C4L and other groups having thwarted many of their plans last Congress, Harry Reid and his cohorts are working behind closed doors to weaken the filibuster significantly, in addition to making other rule changes.

If a majority canâ€™t cut a deal, they will try to shove their ideas down our throats.

Without getting â€œlost in the weedsâ€ detailing each proposal, allow me to explain why I need you to take action.

What the Democrats are considering a â€œfilibusterâ€ is the initial â€œmotion to proceedâ€ cloture vote.Â This requires 60 votes for a bill to make it to the floor.Â Depending on the makeup of the Senate, this generally ensures there is at least some degree of support from the minority party.

Despite the statistsâ€™ best efforts, cloture was where we held the line against several of their plans in the last Congress.

Let me be clear.

Without the protection offered by cloture, DISCLOSE, Police/Firefighter Forced Unionism, Cap and Tax, an even worse national health care bill, and many, many more schemes would now be the law of the land.

Even though the American people have made it clear theyâ€™re tired of out of control government, Senator Tom Udallâ€™s proposed filibuster changes will allow more of the establishmentâ€™s rejected agenda to slip through the Senate.

Under current Senate rules adopted in 1959, the Senate is a â€œcontinuing body,â€ meaning the rules stay the same from one Congress to the next unless two thirds of the senators vote to change them.

Getting 13 Republicans to cross party lines and vote for these rule changes is highly unlikely.

So, Reid may try to dodge the two-thirds majority rule by appealing to the Vice President to authorize a rule change with a simple 51 vote majority.

Since every returning member of the Democrat caucus signed a letter in support of modifying the rules (which puts them at 53 votes), the â€œnuclear optionâ€ mentioned above represents a serious threat, not just for the current Republican minority, but for all future minorities under the proposed rules.

This is a direct attack on our countryâ€™s long tradition of defending the minority against the tyranny of majority â€œfactions,â€ as Madison would have called them.

Guaranteeing the minority an opportunity to delay, modify, or completely reject the majorityâ€™s legislative agenda is a cherished part of our Republic that we must defend.

Irvin Rosenfeld, the longest surviving patient of the four Federal Medical Cannabis Patients in the United States and a Director for Patients Out of Time will be flying to Montana on January 8th to speak before the Montana Legislature for a week. Irvin will be there to educate people of the importance of Medical Cannabis and its true value as a medicine. As a Federal Patient for over 28 years, he has knowledge and experience that no one has in this country which he will share with others. To him, Cannabis is a medicine like any other medicine and should be treated that way. As Senior Vice-President of Investments for Newbridge Securities in Ft. Lauderdale Florida, he also understands the economic aspect and how this medicine creates jobs for thousands of Montanans.

â€œMontana is being watched Nationally, and what happens in this legislative session could set precedence around the worldâ€ states Rosenfeld. â€œMedical Cannabis Patients are productive members of society. I am living proof. I have been a stockbroker for over 23 years handling millions of dollars on a daily basis.â€

â€œOne of the biggest problems in Montana now is, they have had very bad press. The media in Montana has focused its efforts on one specific individual, and that has bled over Nationally. There are some very experienced, professional, caring people in Montana working very hard to care for patients who have went virtually unrecognized in Montana. I know, I have met many of them.â€

â€œMy goal is to help educate the politicians in Montana. There are some very intelligent people in Montana, and I am sure they will see the science and facts, and consider what is best for the people of Montana. Montana has a proud history of pioneering. It is my hope they will take the lead, and be the true pioneers for Medical Cannabis, and a shining example of the true value of not only Medical Cannabis but Hemp as well.â€

Editors Comment: Beyond the “negative” propaganda delved out across Americas media lies the honest truth about medical cannabis. I for one would love to learn more about prior and ongoing medical research proving the “positives” of this medicine… As Bill O’Reilly coined, “What Say You”?

This is wise,? wonderful and something everyone should listen to. Red explains the meaning of nearly every word in the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s extremely sad that his fear has come true. Well said, Red, well said!

Washington, D.C. January 5, 2011. On Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of a sickle cell disease researcher who blew the whistle on improper cloning of blood cell lines. The decision clears the way Dr. Duane Bonds to proceed with her claim that the National Institutes of Health fired her in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the improper cloning of cell lines without consent.

This is the first case in which a federal employee will be allowed to pursue a whistleblower lawsuit in federal district court. Dr. Bonds’ attorney is Michael Kohn, president of the National Whistleblowers Center and a partner with Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP, in Washington, DC. Kohn said: “This decision expands the rights of some federal workers to pursue their whistleblower claims in federal district courts around the country. Unfortunately, since Congress continues to treat federal employees as second-class citizens this right is only available to federal employees who are able to bring a race, sex, age, national origin or religion claim in conjunction with a whistleblower claim. Otherwise, a federal employee has no right to a federal court hearing.”

Dr. Bonds, a female African-American medical officer, worked under National Institute of Health’s National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) since 1990. She was responsible for coordinating and overseeing all of NHLBI’s sickle cell disease human clinical trials and epidemiologic studies. Sickle cell disease is the most frequently inherited blood disorder in the United States, which in this country afflicts primarily persons of Sub-Saharan African descent.

Dr. Bonds learned that blood from African-American infants was taken from participants enrolled in the clinical trial for which she was the project officer without proper informed consent in order to create immortalized cell lines for future scientific study. Dr. Bonds was shocked when she learned of the unauthorized cloning and, as the project officer ordered the immediate destruction of all of the improperly created cell lines. Bonds’ supervisor, Dr. Charles Peterson, interceded and overruled Bonds’ order. Dr. Bonds subsequently brought her concerns to NHLBI’s Director, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, who initially agreed with her, but ultimately failed to take steps to destroy the cell lines.

Retaliation against Dr. Bonds was swift. Within days of raising the issue of the illegally cloned cell lines with Dr. Nabel, a memorandum was handed to Dr. Bonds which stated that she was under investigation and was being summarily removed her from her role as the Sickle Cell Disease Coordinator and was threatened with termination if she raised concerns about the illegally cloned cell lines or discussed that she had been removed from her position with anyone. NHLBI then paid an outside attorney over $100,000 of taxpayer money to conduct the investigation that led to her termination.

Frustrated by the corrupted internal process, Dr. Bonds decided to report the existence of the illegally cloned cell lines to the federal Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The OSC concluded that NHLBI’s failure to destroy the cell lines violated federal law and issued a report to the President to that effect. In the midst of the OSC investigation, NHLBI illegally searched Dr. Bonds’ emails with her attorney and located a copy of the OSC complaint. Bonds was terminated shortly after that when she was blamed for missing expiration dates on drug labels used by outside investigators in one of her studies. Dr. Bonds supervisor, Dr. Peterson, knew that the missing labels had been reported a year earlier to others and ignored this fact in order to blame Dr. Bonds.

The Fourth Circuit ruling means that Dr. Bonds can proceed in a federal district court to prove that her discharge was part of a witch-hunt that was mounted in response to her whistleblowing. Attorney Kohn further stated: “The time has come for NHLBI to answer for its decision to gag Dr. Bonds and terminate her for exposing unethical treatment of study participants.”

The Court of Appeals decision reinstates Dr. Bonds’ claims against NHLBI under the Whistleblower Protection Act and the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA). However, it let stand the lower court’s summary judgment against Dr. Bonds on her claim of race discrimination.

Dr. Bonds released the following statement: “I am grateful that the Court of Appeals recognized the importance of allowing me to bring my whistleblower case forward. I wish that Congress would provide a new law granting all federal whistleblowers modern legal protections.”

By the way, as usual, I speak truth to power and have the facts to support everything that I say.

Mark A. Adams JD/MBA

P.S. In case this reaches someone who doesn’t know anything about my censored work, thereâ€™s a 3 minute video about some of it at http://blip.tv/file/1672498 Also, I’m one of the featured writers on The Daily Censored which is a news blog affiliated with the premier media watchdog organization, Project Censored. See http://dailycensored.com/writers/mark-a-adams/ for more about my work.

Editors Comment: Rob Kall is a respected friend who is the mastermind and chief editor for: OpEdNews.com… In addition, Mr. Kall is the host of a progressive radio talk show. He calls it like it is but could be a bit more independent…

How To Beat The Mainstream Press? This is the number one question I hear on a regular basis. All of those who are paying attention fully understand that the mainstream press is owned and controlled by big corporations. In America, absolute media control is especially true during what are supposed to be open and fair elections for public office. Candidates with tons of money get all the headlines while candidates who place more time and attention to policy, rather than fund-raising, are all too often ignored. The whole political process has become corrupted, you know it and I know it. That said, what have we done in the past, present, or future to restore our faith in our political institutions? The truth? We’ve done little if anything to clean house.

If you haven’t noticed, FFTP, from time-to-time has offered real solutions. So, let’s look at the big question that began this piece and see where the conversation goes.

In the Inland Northwest, where I reside, several non-commercial radio licenses have been applied for or already granted. The key word I want you to focus on is “non-commercial”. This is what NPR and PBS once were. Big corporations noticed this crack in their armor and have recently decided to become major funders of NPR and PBS. What does this mean? Think of National Public Radio as being, National Corporate Public Radio (NCPR) and, PBS would now be, CPBS. Are you still giving money to NPR or PBS? If yes, Why? They don’t need your money. NPR and PBS are receiving major funding from the very same sources as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

Does your community have a small non-commercial radio station? If yes, the majority within your community have access to non-biased broadcasting if you’ll only choose to nurture and support these non-commercial stations. A simple sentence within the non-commercial radio stations charter could prevent unwanted corporate influence. NPR and PBS have made the decision to drink the corporate cool aid. NPR and PBS can be replaced if the people within their communities choose to get involved.

Summary: Tune In to Non-Commercial radio and, Tune Out to those who have sold their soul for corporate treasure.

Here’s a small list of non-commercial radio stations. Some are already on the air while others are pending. If you want to add a non-commercial station from your community simply include it in your comments.

As a condition of flying, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)Â now expects you to surrender your rights and choose between a strip search in one of their naked porno-scanners or a humiliating, invasive groping, that would be considered sexual assault if you or I were to do it to an individual.

Since when has national security required feeling up little kids and grandmothers or ogling them behind a curtain?

Your representative needs to hear loud and clear that you refuse to surrender your or your familyâ€™s Fourth Amendment rights the moment you purchase an airline ticket.

Believe me, TSA screeners do not want to be groping your most intimate areas for the next twenty years.Â Their goal is simple.Â They believe they can humiliate you into going through their potentially harmful, radiating porno-scanners.

This is the time to tell the TSA to keep its rubber-gloved hands to itself.Â Once invasive procedures like this are fully entrenched, they will never be rolled back, and who knows what will be next.

Contact Congress today and tell them youâ€™re not going to just wait in line for your turn to be assaulted.Â The American people are not cattle to be herded around by their masters.

In today’s era of massive corporate fraud and government corruption, America’s workforce is in desperate need of fiscal protection. When we accept a position for employment we’re often provided with multiple choices for insurance and retirement. What’s missing is our ability to choose our method of compensation. Should we simply do as we’ve done in years past by placing all of our trust, faith and confidence in the American dollar? What if company ABC gave you an option other than greenbacks for compensation?

Personally, I’d jump on an offer of gold for wages and would suggest that this option should be demanded by all who currently work for a living. Gold will always have value. Can the same be said for the U.S. dollar?

A political friend of FFTP (alaskawarrior) recently asked, “Why did the Tea Party fizzle west of the Rocky Mountains?”

Great question! Perhaps someone out there has an informed opinion? If so, please chime in… As for my knowledge, the Tea Party doesn’t exist in the Pacific Northwest… Yes, there are local members of Campaign for Liberty out west but, the only time I’ve heard reference to the “Tea Party” is from my very limited attention given to MSM propaganda outlets, aka network news companies… yuk…

It’s hard to fathom how far the average American has advanced in such little time. When I was a child, I lived in a modest middle-class home where my father worked as a machinist for a major railroad. We didn’t have a ton of money but dad made enough to support our family while mom stayed home to care for me and my little sister. In addition to dad’s wage, the railroad provided medical insurance and a retirement that currently pays to support my mother.

Since the 1950′s and 1960′s, what’s changed?

To put it in simple terms, we, the American middle-class have been sold out. From our government leaders to those who run our labor unions. In 2010, it’s all about corporate and Wall Street profits. Whatever it takes to turn a worthless buck.

Mr. Kraft, I’m not impressed with the “Made in Mexico” printed on the side of a recently purchased box of Ritz crackers. Need I say more?

This question was recently asked on Town Hall U.S.A seen on Fox News. I searched their (Fox News) web site but found nothing. Not only was this all important question (Will “new” Republican’s “Prosecute the Banksters”?) missing but in doing so, the public was denied their ability to make their comments known. You, Fox News, asked the big question on-the-air, which we appreciate but, not on the web. What’s that all about?

Hey, Fox News… American business and political leaders should never be placed above the rule-of-law. As a fair-and-balanced media company, Fox News should be asking Congress to appoint William K. Black as a special, independent, Federal Prosecutor. Mr. Black should be provided with full subpoena power, the required resources and, open “public hearings” for the investigation and prosecution of all who have knowingly committed criminal acts of financial fraud.

As a result of last Tuesday’s mid-term elections, Fox News Television pundits say, “American’s want real change in Washington.” Hello, this American wants real accountability and leaders that are interested in restoring the public’s respect of government.

In July 2009, three Americans â€“ humanitarian workers on holiday in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region â€“ were hiking in the mountains near the Iranian border. What happened next is unclear; according to the three Americans, they were simply on a pleasure outing when they were seized by Iranian border guards on the Iraqi side of the border â€“ or at worst, inadvertently strayed over the boundary.

What Happened Next?

The Iranian government held the three incommunicado for several months. Formal charges of espionage were filed in December of 2009, but the Americans were not allowed to communicate with anyone outside of Evin Prison where they were held until family members were permitted a brief visit this past spring.

Significantly, the charges of espionage were announced almost at the same time that Tehran was demanding the release of 11 Iranians being detained by the U.S. on similar charges. One of these detainees was arrested in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and brought to the U.S., where he pleaded guilty to plotting the sale of U.S. military secrets to Iran. He is now serving a five-year sentence at a federal prison.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad flatly stated in a television interview that he would be willing to consider releasing the three Americans in exchange for the 11 Iranians.

Relations between one of the world’s oldest nations â€“ Iran, known for centuries as Persia â€“ and the U.S.A., one of the world’s youngest nations â€“ has been a complex and often dysfunctional one over the decades. In some ways, it’s been a love-hate relationship. Average Iranians have a great deal of admiration for average Americans; at one time, Tehran was home to American-style jazz clubs and American movies were commonly shown in local cinemas. Of course, conservative and corporate elements in the U.S. have conveniently forgotten the show of support from the Iranian people in the days after the attacks of 11 September 2001, when thousands of people held candlelight vigils in the streets of the city.

On the other hand, those who control Iran’s government, particularly since 1979, have been suspicious and hostile toward their counterparts in Washington D.C. – suspicions and hostilities that have been fully reciprocated. The result has been an ongoing miniature “cold war” between Washington D.C. and Tehran.

Diplomacy Fails In One Place, Succeeds in Another

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been unsuccessful in negotiating for the release of the three Americans, though one of them â€“ Sarah Shourd â€“ was recently released on $500,000 bail and allowed to return home for “humanitarian” reasons.

In contrast, her husband, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his political adviser, Doug Band, were remarkably successful in negotiating the release of two Asian-American journalists arrested by North Korean authorities. The two women strayed over China’s border with that country in March 2009. Within three months, they had been tried and sentenced to 12 years hard labor.

Interestingly, Mr. Clinton did not go to Pyongyang in any official capacity, but as a private citizen pleading for the two journalists on humanitarian grounds. The details of the agreement are not clear, but international news sources suggest that it may have to do with convincing Kim Jong-Il to back off â€“ or at least scale down â€“ North Korea’s nuclear program, which has been a major bone of contention between Washington D.C. and Pyongyang.

What About Iran’s Nukes?

It seems that the same old Cold War dramas that defined relations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. for nearly half a century are now being replayed with Iran as that country pursues its own nuclear research. It is doubtful that Sarah Shourd and her two companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, had the wherewithal to carry out any serious espionage â€“ and the region in which they were detained is hundreds of miles from the nearest nuclear research facility.

Ironically, it was the U.S. that assisted Iran in starting its nuclear industry in the 1950s under a program called “Atoms for Peace.” At that time, the country was governed by the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was a good friend of both the Eisenhower Administration and the British government â€“ as well as private corporate oil interests in both the U.S. and the U.S. The Shah was deeply unpopular with the Iranian people however, and there was a great resentment toward the U.S. for its hand in deposing democratically-elected prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953.

Mossadeq had called upon the Iranian parliament of that time to nationalize the country’s oil reserves, making them the property of the Iranian people. This did not sit well with the CEO and shareholders of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC), corporate predecessor of BP. The corporation had invested heavily in Iranian oil fields; meanwhile, it paid almost nothing to the Iranians themselves in the way of royalties, and working conditions for oil field workers were dismal.

In 1951 the British government was prepared to invade Iran and seize its oil fields on behalf of APOC. Initially, U.S. President Harry Truman opposed Britain’s plans; through the U.S. ambassador to Iran, Truman attempted to broker a deal that would have split oil revenues 50-50. The proposal was rejected by both sides.

In the meantime, Truman found himself in need of British support for the war in Korea. In 1952, Eisenhower took office and the “Red Scare” was rampant. Calling it a form of “red socialism,” then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that nationalization of Iran’s oil was tantamount to a communist takeover. Ultimately, Eisenhower ordered the CIA to stage a coup that removed Mossadeq from power, returning the government to a pro-Western, pro-corporate administration.

Although a consortium was eventually formed that allowed Iran to share 50% of oil profits, the agreement prevented Iranians from participating in governance of the business and overseeing it in any way.

Long Memories and Short

This chapter of Anglo-American history is not taught in U.K. or U.S. schools or colleges today â€“ but it has never been forgotten in Iran. Today, the “Cold War” between the U.S. and Iran, with all the distrust and hostility on both sides, is a legacy of failed foreign policy and interventionism on behalf of private industry.

In the meantime, three innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time have paid the price, serving as pawns in the continuing game of chess being played between Washington D.C. and Tehran.

Christina Johnson is a blogging hobbyist who enjoys writing about trending topics as they occur in real time. Christina has interest in political science, public policy, and international affairs and contributes written work to the blogosphere on topics that are political in nature. Christina is primarily interested in international relations.

Bibliography

Gasiorowski, Mark. U.S. Foreign Policy and the Shah: Building a Client State in Iran. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991)

Healy, Jack. “Iran Says 3 American Hikers Will Be Tried Over Crossing.” New York Times, 15 December 2009.

Kinzer, Stephen. All The Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2006).

N/A. “Business: The Company File From Anglo-Persian Oil to BP Amoco.” BBC News, 11 August 1998.

As the current economic downturn shows no signs of lifting, we hear quite a lot of rhetoric from current and potential office-holders about what government can and will do to create more jobs. This is especially disconcerting to those who understand that the best thing government can do for job creation is to simply get out of the way.

Jobs are properly created by businesses. Government-created jobs are either fueled by fiat money and manipulated market conditions or directly funded by taxes paid by businesses and individuals who then have less to hire people for real wealth creation. Government-created jobs destroy wealth and sap potential from the economy. The several stimulus bills passed by Congress have done much to expand government but not much to keep money in the hands of real job creators — the entrepreneurs.

Keynesian economists donâ€™t see things this way. They see government spending as a stop gap measure that tides us over through rough economic patches. But is this really the case?

Far from it. The reality is instead of sustaining us until the economy can catch up, government spending perpetuates the problems the bureaucrats and the politicians created. Maintaining a high level of employment is one of the main objectives of the Federal Reserve, which is just one reason it is ill-conceived at its very core: it legitimizes economic intervention which is always destructive. When unemployment rises after the bust of a Fed-created bubble, you can be sure Congress will attempt to rescue the economy through various policies that will always prolong the agony and expand the downturn.

In the late 90′s, it was thought that encouraging home ownership would have a stimulative effect that would ripple throughout the rest of the economy and create jobs. Various government policies favorable to home ownership were enacted and the Fed kept interest rates artificially low so everyone would be able to buy a home, whether or not they could really afford it. For awhile, it worked. The housing boom increased demand for realtors, mortgage lenders, and construction workers. However, as reality sank in, not only are we back to where we were when the bubble began, but we are actually worse off. For example, not only have we lost all of the one million extra construction jobs the bubble created, but we lost another one million on top of that! So not only did the artificial wealth evaporate, but real wealth has been destroyed as well.

Even more sinister are jobs created by war. Recent reports highlight the increasing dependence on contractors to support our war efforts in Afghanistan. Massive corruption is endemic to these highly lucrative positions. Almost half of the contracting companies we use are Afghan owned and include such business models as recruiting away the very same Afghan police force we are training at great expense to the American taxpayer. Meanwhile we have pledged not to leave until the police force reaches a certain level. We also bribe many Afghans to simply not attack us. We are in a proverbial hole in Afghanistan. Our leaders need to just stop digging.

Neither a Keynesian big spending program, nor the military-industrial complex can create long-lasting employment or economic prosperity for our country. The only way to restore both peace and prosperity is to draw down our overseas commitments, along with unconstitutional spending at home and return to the founders’ vision of a limited republic that neither straddles the globe, nor micromanages the domestic economy.

If you are interested in learning about why people continue to be elected even though they have let the banking industry engage in conduct which has crashed our economy, you might want to check out the John Michael Chambers show today. It is broadcast in the Tampa Bay area on WGUL AM 860 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM on Saturdays.

If you want to know how those in government get away with violating our rights and ignoring our wishes, see Why Does the Government Ignore Our Wishes? at http://dailycensored.com/2009/09/11/why-does-the-government-ignore-our-wishes/ and donâ€™t miss my short speech. If you take a look, youâ€™ll learn why those in government and those who can illegally influence them get away with violating our rights, abusing their power, and committing horrible crimes. My article on torture includes a link to the U.S. Supreme Court case which explains how one of our stolen rights makes the difference between justice and injustice, between freedom and slavery.

Are Wild Bison becoming an endangered species? During a recent outing to Bozeman Montana, my wife and I had the privilege to meet two representatives from the organization known as Buffalo Field Campaign based out of West Yellowstone, Montana. Prior to this encounter, we’d always assumed that wild herds of Bison living in Yellowstone National Park were protected. We were wrong.

Prior to the European invasion of North America, millions of Bison could be seen grazing the grasslands of the U.S. and Canada. Bison and Salmon were common foods eaten by those who were native to these area’s. As the native peoples were herded up and placed onto many reservations, the great American Bison were being slaughtered to near extinction. Yellowstone National Park became one of the last wild settings where the American Bison could truly roam free.

For many decades, those who head up the powerful cattle lobby have argued against the freedom of American Bison. A common disease found in some Bison (brucellosis) is also found in some cattle and other wild game such as Elk. Elk are allowed to roam America freely, why are we citizens funding a government program that hazes wild Bison as seen in this video?

To learn more about Bison, click any of the links found in this article. As with the American Bald Eagle, I believe Buffalo deserve federal and state protection.

It’s no secret that Bison meat is healthier for humans than beef. Our elected leaders need to know these facts and make correct decisions concerning American Bison. The cattle industry is dumping an inferior product onto our family dinner table and into our restaurants.

Political Corruption in America begins and ends with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). By design, this governmental agency sets “communications policy” for the sitting President. FCC policy doesn’t seem to change regardless of whether or not a Democrat or Republican holds the office of President of the United States of America.

Since the advent of broadcast television and radio, the FCC, with full support and leadership from both political parties (Democrat and Republican) have all but destroyed our most precious right as American citizens. What right am I speaking of? Our right to vote in an open and free democratic election.

Yes, us mere citizens can still vote but who are we really voting for? Is there any “real difference” between the “media supported” candidates? And who or what determines within the American media establishment which candidates are the best and brightest for Americas political future?

Flip on any major radio or television news channel and you’ll hear the same old tune that’s created 16 million unemployed Americans. You’ll also hear how billions of U.S. dollars are being wasted to bailout Ivy league scam artists who happen to head up some of Americas biggest financial institutions which include yet another corrupted, bi-partisan led government agency, the U.S. Department of Treasury.

What you wont hear on any major news broadcast is real debate from real citizens. Unfiltered news and real public debate would go a long way into fixing most of Americas political problems. Imagine open and fair media access to any and all U.S. citizens interested in fixing our government from Main Street to the halls of Congress.

Real political reform will only happen in America when federal agencies such as the FCC become depoliticized. In 2010, we have news channels, movie channels, sports channels, shopping channels and sex channels. We even have a “liquidation” channel. All of this programming begs the question, Why Don’t We Have “Election” channels that provide free and open access to all who wish to make America a better country for All Americans?

I am aware of the vast amounts of properties your employers own, as Iâ€™m sure you must also be. I am also aware of real estate values in Spokane as, following my law enforcement career, I worked for three years in Spokane as an appraiser and 12 years as a licensed Washington State realtor. I have already examined some of the assessed values of Cowlesâ€™s real estate and have found them to be highly under-assessed in value. The fact that the assessorâ€™s conduct is not being reported in your paper creates the impression that Mr. Baker is providing your employers with special property tax favors in return for political support and protection from your employers. As I recall (please correct me if I am wrong), Mr. Baker has been endorsed by your editorial board during each of his elections.

Most important, it appears Mr. Bakerâ€™s actions as the Spokane County Assessor are not honorable or in the best interest of the public. Consequently, the public has a need to when they have a corrupt official. Since the Spokesman-Review is the paper of record for Spokane County, you have an obligation to adhere to your code of ethics. The public has the right and need to know when a public official is corrupt. Consequently, you have a duty to inform the public of Mr. Bakerâ€™s misconduct in office.

Mr. Graham, at this time I respectfully request that you cause a journalistic investigation of the assessorâ€™s office to be made and report according in a timely manner. Please advise me if I can be of any assistance in this matter.

The following piece was sent to me from Col. John J. Talbott, retired. Col. Talbott is one of the very best people I’ve ever had the honor to meet and at one time served as mayor for the City of Spokane, WA… Thank you, Sir!

Herb Meyer, formerly a senior intelligence official for President Reagan, resides in Friday Harbor, WA. Herb was a 2002 candidate for U. S. Congress. The following article was featured Thursday on: AmericanThinker.com

By Herbert E. Meyer

America is on the verge of something unprecedented in history: the peaceful, constitutional replacement of our country’s entire political establishment. This is what lies behind the decisions of so many elected officials, at every level, to step aside rather than fight for reelection. And it explains how the Tea Party movement can exert so much political leverage without nominating its own candidates or even without formally choosing its own leaders.

Most of the time, we Americans don’t pay much attention to politics. We focus all of our energy on our jobs, our families, and our faith. We work hard, play by the rules, and wish only to be left alone. We love our country, consider ourselves blessed to be living here, and ask little from the men and women we elect except to keep from screwing things up.

But in just the last decade, Americans were shocked by two catastrophes we hadn’t imagined our political establishment would allow to happen. The first was 9-11, when nineteen terrorists successfully attacked our homeland, and by doing so revealed that for years, al-Qaeda and its allies had been waging holy war against us. The second was the 2008 financial crash, which revealed that our economy is a house of cards built on a pile of debt so high we cannot possibly repay it.

Republicans blame Democrats, and Democrats blame Republicans. To ordinary, non-political Americans — who grasp intuitively, and correctly, that both parties share responsibility for these two catastrophes — these politicians seem like children who’ve turned a party into a food fight. And what do parents do when a children’s party gets out of control? They turn off the music, turn out the lights, and send everyone home, including those few who weren’t behaving badly and just got caught up in the melee.

Americans don’t like getting tangled in the details of politics. We prefer to stand back and see the big picture. (This, by the way, helps explain the extraordinary appeal of Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin. That’s what they do, too.) What the big picture is showing now is that our entire political establishment has failed. These were the men and women, both Republicans and Democrats, we relied upon to focus on the details, and by doing so, to keep us safe from terrorists and to keep the world’s most powerful economy from imploding. And they blew it. So we’ll replace them with a wholly new establishment — some of whom will be Republicans, others Democrats, and a few Independents here and there — and hope our next political establishment will get it right.

In the looming political battles, persona will matter more than policy. As we move toward the 2010 elections, of course we’ll ask candidates to outline their plans for how to improve our health care system, what to do about illegal immigration, how to bring down the unemployment rate, how to fight the war, and all the rest. But what will determine who gets elected this year won’t be a set of specific policies, but something simpler, and in a way much deeper: a recognition among grassroots voters across the political spectrum that character is more important than personality, that education isn’t the same thing as judgment, and that expertise without common sense is dangerous.

Stand back from politics and you’ll see the same re-establishment trend unfolding in other public arenas. Americans have decided that the mainstream media has failed, and so we are replacing The New York Times,the television network news departments, and all the rest with an entirely new media, including FOX News and websites like American Thinker and Lucianne.com.Americans have decided that our country’s education establishment has failed — our kids are barely learning to read and write, let alone taught our country’s history — so we’re seeing the rise of private schools, charter schools, and home-schooling. Would anyone like to bet that within just a few years, we’ll have a wholly new financial establishment on Wall Street to replace the greedy idiots who run it now?

The re-establishment of America won’t be easy, and we’ll make mistakes along the way. Some of the new people will prove just as worthless as they ones they replaced. And some very good people who now hold key positions in politics, the media, education, and finance will be swept away by the avalanche. That’s too bad, but collateral damage is unavoidable.

No other country in history has ever attempted to replace its establishments so smoothly and so peacefully — and so cheerfully — as we are doing right now. And it isn’t likely that any other country ever will attempt something like this. How exhilarating to realize that 234 years after our revolution, the United States is still the most dynamic, forward-looking, optimistic place on Earth. Boy, what an exciting time to be an American.

Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. He is the author of How to Analyze Information and The Cure for Poverty.

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HOW President Obama and Fed Chief Ben Bernanke are SACRIFICING your buying power, your quality of life, and your familyâ€™s future on the altar of political convenience â€¦

WHY secret meetings now being held by G-7 nations may turn the gradual but steady decline in the dollar youâ€™ve seen so far into an all-out CRASH â€¦

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The peak of the stock market bubble in 2000 and the subsequent Tech Wreck that wiped out so many investors â€¦

The new bull market in natural resources that began in 2001 and saw virtually every commodity under the sun explode to record highs â€¦

The rise of China and its 400% stock market gains in 2006-2007 â€¦

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Several months ago, William K. Black appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal to discuss Americas failed fiscal policies and the fraudulent financial institutions that on many fronts invented and implemented events that caused our economic collapse. If you haven’t seen the video, click here.

During the interview economic professor, lawyer, and former federal banking regulator Bill Black said a current federal law requires the federal government to appoint a receiver or conservator to take over day-to-day operations of any insolvent (critically undercapitalized) FDIC insured bank. Here’s the excerpt from the actual federal law that President George W. Bush and President Barack H. Obama have gone to great lengths to ignore.

3. Conservator-ship, receivership, or other action required

(A) In general

The appropriate Federal banking agency shall, not later than 90 days after an insured depository institution becomes critically undercapitalizedâ€”

(i) appoint a receiver (or, with the concurrence of the Corporation, a conservator) for the institution; or

(ii) take such other action as the agency determines, with the concurrence of the Corporation, would better achieve the purpose of this section, after documenting why the action would better achieve that purpose.

Here’s the link to the entire language of the Prompt Corrective Action Law. I want to thank political researcher Robert Kroboth for locating this document on the Cornell University website.

Are Presidents Barack H. Obama and George W. Bush following the rule of law? Could a non-corrupt judiciary, if such a thing exists in America, find reason to charge both Presidents with conspiring to aid and provide protective shelter for known criminals?

Much is written and said about corporate money going to RNC and DNC candidates. Candidates are required to file reports showing how much money they’ve raised and from whom.

What isn’t being reported or discussed is where does all of that money go? The answer is the mainstream media… What goes unanswered is how much money do individual media companies earn from U.S. elections? And, should media companies be required to disclose all income received from our electoral processes?

I raise these questions because this amount of income is massive, perhaps as much as 25% of any particular MSM companies entire income stream. That said, why would the MSM ever dare to address any real public debate on campaign finance reform? In addition, what current incentive would MSM companies have to allow their news divisions the ability to report on any particular candidate or political organization that promotes FCC regulations in support of free airtime for all viable political organizations or candidates?

NEW YORK, NY (February 4, 2010) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, joined by Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Neil Barofsky, today announced a lawsuit against Bank of America, its former CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, and its former CFO Joseph L. Price for duping shareholders and the federal government in order to complete a merger with Merrill Lynch. According to the lawsuit, Bank of Americaâ€™s management intentionally failed to disclose massive losses at Merrill so that shareholders would vote to approve the merger. Once the deal was approved, Bank of Americaâ€™s management manipulated the federal government into saving the deal with billions in taxpayer funds by falsely claiming that they would back out of the deal without bailout funds.

â€œThis merger is a classic example of how the actions of our nationâ€™s largest financial institutions led to the near-collapse of our financial system,â€ said Attorney General Cuomo. â€œBank of America, through its top management, engaged in a concerted effort to deceive shareholders and American taxpayers at large. This was an arrogant scheme hatched by the bankâ€™s top executives who believed they could play by their own set of rules. In the end, they committed an enormous fraud and American taxpayers ended up paying billions for Bank of Americaâ€™s misdeeds.â€

â€œThe events surrounding the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch merger and the United States Governmentâ€™s investment in Bank of America through the Troubled Asset Relief Program are an important part of the history of the financial crisis,â€ said Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky. â€œAttorney General Cuomo and his staff, working hand in hand with the law enforcement agents of SIGTARP, quickly identified the important shareholder and taxpayer interests at stake in the disclosures surrounding the merger and meticulously pieced together the evidence that supports the historic charges filed today. The close partnership between the New York Attorney Generalâ€™s Office and SIGTARP in this case stands as a tremendous example of how well the publicâ€™s interests can be served through effective State and Federal coordination, and should send a powerful message that we will work tirelessly to hold accountable those who have engaged in misconduct relating to the response to this National crisis.â€

Bank of America announced its plan to buy Merrill Lynch on September 15, 2008 and a shareholder vote to approve the transaction was scheduled for December 5, 2008. However, by the day of the shareholder vote, Merrill had incurred disastrous actual losses of more than $16 billion. Bank of Americaâ€™s top management, including CEO Lewis and CFO Price, knew about these massive losses and that additional losses were forthcoming. Despite the fact that this information would be important to shareholders, the bankâ€™s management chose not to disclose this information so that shareholders would approve the merger.

After shareholders approved the deal, Lewis then misled federal regulators by telling them that the bank could not complete the merger without an extraordinary taxpayer bailout due to accelerated losses from Merrill. However, between the time that the shareholders had approved the deal and the time that Lewis sought a taxpayer bailout, Merrillâ€™s actual losses had only increased by another $1.4 billion. The bank also threatened federal officials that they would terminate the merger agreement based on a material adverse change in Merrillâ€™s financial condition, even though the bank knew that such an attempt would likely be futile.

As a result of their efforts, Bank of America received more than $20 billion in taxpayer aid. The bankâ€™s management cannot explain why they did not disclose Merrillâ€™s massive losses to shareholders even though the merger with Merrill would have threatened the bankâ€™s very existence if there had been no taxpayer bailout.

Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges the following:
Shortly before the shareholder vote, Price ignored a warning from the bankâ€™s Corporate Treasurer, Jeffrey Brown, who told Price that, â€œI didnâ€™t want to be talking [about Merrillâ€™s losses] through a glass wall over a telephone.â€
The bankâ€™s management failed to tell shareholders that it was allowing Merrill to pay $3.57 billion in bonuses. The amount, criteria, and timing of the bonus payments were omitted from the proxy. The bonuses were distributed in a manner that was completely inconsistent with Merrillâ€™s prior practice, and in the worst year in Merrillâ€™s history.
The bankâ€™s management did not tell the bankâ€™s lawyers about the full extent of Merrillâ€™s losses before the shareholder vote. For example, the bankâ€™s former General Counsel, Timothy Mayopoulos, was intentionally mislead about the size and nature of Merrillâ€™s losses. After the shareholder vote, when Mayopoulos learned of the actual losses, he attempted to confront Price but was summarily terminated.
In the course of the Attorney Generalâ€™s investigation, Lewis and other executives misled investigators about their conduct during and after the shareholder vote.

In the process of acquiring Merrill Lynch, Bank of Americaâ€™s management intentionally misled its shareholders, its Board of Directors, its lawyers, and United States taxpayers. The lawsuit filed today in New York State Supreme Court seeks monetary relief and injunctions from Bank of America, Lewis, and Price.

The Attorney General thanked Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Neil Barofsky and his staff for their partnership and hard work throughout the investigation. The Attorney General also thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission (â€œSECâ€) and noted that today the SEC is announcing a proposed corporate settlement with Bank of America (See SEC Lit. Release #21407). Cuomo stated, â€œI support the SECâ€™s proposed settlement of its pending actions against Bank of America. The corporate governance provisions of that settlement are important reforms for Bank of America and ensure that safeguards against future violation of the law will be implemented immediately and will not have to await the conclusion of the case we are filing today.â€

The investigation was conducted by Assistant Attorneys General Vicki Andreadis, Thomas Teige Carroll, Pamela Lynam Mahon, Christopher Mulvihill, and Ethan Zlotchew, under the supervision of Special Deputy Attorney General for Investor Protection David A. Markowitz.

A copy of the lawsuit can be found at: www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/feb/BoA_Complaint.pdf

The political saga began in 1992 following an interview between Larry King and H. Ross Perot. Prior to this interview, few in the Pacific Northwest had ever heard of Ross Perot. The more I heard of Perot the more interested I became.

As Perotâ€™s popularity became unavoidable, I started receiving telephone calls from friendsÂ up and down the west coast. â€œHey, have you heard about Perot and his group, United We Stand America?â€

Soon after, I asked around town and learned about the Perot For President campaign office that had opened on North Division Street in Spokane. The place was buzzing with people to include the Washington State Director of UWSA, Mrs. Connie Smith. It didnâ€™t take long for me to sign up, pay my membership dues and walk away with my Perot For President bumper sticker and campaign sign.

This was way too cool. As with most folks you talk to, two-party politics had become boring, â€œainâ€™t a dimes worth of differenceâ€ most would say. I couldnâ€™t disagree. Perot was talking about real issues and heâ€™d go on national television with placards that showed simple to understand charts and graphs. Read More →

Spokane is a beautiful little town with a very ugly public relations problem. As a one-newspaper town, the public, and all forms of the local corporate media rely on The Spokesman-Review for accurate reporting of the news.

Has The Spokesman-Review acted in a responsible,Â ethical manner when covering issues or elections that directly impact their private business interests?

A few years ago The Spokesman-Review hired a new editor, Steven A. Smith. Mr. Smith inherited some very messy problems that were created by the previous editor Chris Peck and the newspapers owners, Betsy and Stacey Cowles. Read More →

Kleargear.com: Give It a Negative Review; It Can Legally Fine You $3,500 & Ruin Your Credit Ratings with All 3 Credit Reporting Bureaus:By Marc ChamotConsumerism extortion?? One big REASON why I am NOT a BIG fan of online shopping…..Just yet.“Read the fine print FOLKS, before you use your credit cards online…But not limited to DEBIT cards and Pay Pal, an […]

Death of American New & Used Car Salesmen:By Marc ChamotAccording to Yahoo Finance; the car salesman has become passé, like the dinosaurs…They don’t have the luxury anymore to cheat, or overcharge customers on badly made automobiles and vehicles.The car salesman has become another casualty of the Internet information age.As for me, I am in the market for […]

Obama Poll Numbers Collapsing; Swing Voters Sour on Democratic Party:"Look at me; I could never stand the man, I campaigned against him as commentator, blogger and on social networks...Grew tired of it, because I saw he was on self destruct MODE, it was like beating on a DEAD CLOWN!!..."A new poll shows that non-ideological swing voters have walked […]